KAUST leads the Middle East as Saudi universities take the Arab world's top three places in new global Industry Collaboration Index

KAUST, No. 216 of 1,038 and the region's only top-300 university, co-writes 1.57 times the industry research its fields predict; Wageningen is world No. 1, ahead of MIT.

Title card for the Industry Collaboration Index 2026 Middle East results by Global Research Partnerships: King Abdullah University of Science and Technology in the world top 300 at No. 216, Gold standing, followed by King Saud University at No. 640 and King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals at No. 647; 20 universities ranked of 38 analysed, in 6 countries, 9 of them in Saudi Arabia; 1,038 universities ranked worldwide of 1,192 analysed. Results published 15 October 2026, 09:00 BST. — King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) is the Middle East's highest-placed university, No. 216 in the Industry Collaboration Index 2026, as Saudi universities take the Arab world's top three places; Wageningen University & Research is world No. 1. Results and Sector Award winners published by Global Research Partnerships on 15 October 2026. Image: Global Research Partnerships. Download the high-resolution image (2400 x 1350, JPEG)

King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) is the Middle East's highest-placed university in the Industry Collaboration Index (ICI), a new global ranking of 1,038 universities on research co-written with companies, published today by Global Research Partnerships (GRP). At No. 216, in the Gold band, it is the region's only top-300 university, and Saudi universities take the top three places in the Arab world: KAUST, King Saud University (No. 640) and King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals (No. 647).

Worldwide, Wageningen University & Research, the Dutch food and agriculture university, is No. 1, ahead of MIT at No. 2, and Japan takes the next three places: The University of Tokyo, Kyoto University and The University of Osaka.

KAUST's strengths are intensity and durability. It co-wrote 6.7% of its research with verified companies, 1.57 times what its mix of fields predicts, a higher rate than almost nine in ten ranked universities. It sustains 24 partnerships of five or more works over three or more years, working with Ericsson and Intel, and with Google in every year from 2021 to 2025. Breadth holds it back: eight of its 12 leading company partners work mainly in engineering.

Of the region's 38 universities analysed, 20 are ranked: nine in Saudi Arabia, five in Iran, three in the United Arab Emirates and one each in Kuwait, Lebanon and Qatar. National leaders include Kuwait University (No. 831), the American University of Beirut (No. 839), Khalifa University of Science and Technology in the UAE (No. 865) and Qatar University (No. 874).

The American University of Beirut's industry research, with partners from Nvidia and Nestlé to Novartis and IBM, has a citation impact of 8.84 times the world average, among the 15 highest of 1,038 ranked universities. Qatar University worked with ConocoPhillips, Shell and Pfizer in all five years, as did King Saud University with MED-EL and Kuwait University with AstraZeneca. King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals holds the region's best sector position: 31 of 237 worldwide in Chemicals, Process and Resources.

In GRP's Research Collaboration Index (RCI), launched on 15 September to measure collaboration between universities, King Saud University leads the region at No. 98 of 1,195 (Platinum), and KAUST, King Abdulaziz University, United Arab Emirates University and Qatar University are Gold: the two indices reveal different strengths.

Most global rankings rest on reputation surveys, publications and citations, with collaboration at most a minor indicator. The ICI measures it directly through co-authored research, with no surveys or self-reported figures: from 2021 to 2025, the 1,192 universities analysed co-wrote 429,958 verified works with 40,786 company groups. For universities it is a benchmark; for companies, a map of which universities sustain partnerships in their field.

GRP checked 2,070,335 candidate university-company links against authors' affiliation text, confirming 1,148,566. Universities are scored on co-creation, durability, scale and breadth, and every overall position was tested across 200 re-runs with the evidence resampled and the weights varied.

“Co-authored research is one visible, checkable trace of how universities and companies work together, and it deserves evidence as careful as any citation count. Every link in this index can be traced to what a researcher wrote about where they work,” said Daniel Llewellin of Global Research Partnerships.

The GRP Partnership Intelligence Platform, opening to partner universities on Monday 19 October, turns both indices and published funder records into next steps, from confirming peers and finding partners to matching live funding calls. It cannot change any position. GRP confirms availability and pricing with each university; onboarding takes three days. Early access: globalresearchpartnerships.com/platform/#first-access

Full results: globalresearchpartnerships.com/ici/
Middle East results: globalresearchpartnerships.com/ici/regions/#middle-east
Media enquiries: globalresearchpartnerships.com/ici/press/

ENDS

About Global Research Partnerships

Global Research Partnerships (GRP) publishes the Research Collaboration Index and the Industry Collaboration Index, two indices of equal standing built from the open scholarly record. The index is free, public and independent; no commercial relationship changes any position. globalresearchpartnerships.com

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Interviews, data and image requests: use the Industry Collaboration Index press and media page. Corrections and other requests about the index: the requests page.

Notes to editors

Region: the Middle East follows the index's own regions: Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Kuwait, Lebanon, Iran, Iraq and Jordan (38 universities analysed, 20 ranked). Türkiye and Israel are in its Europe region and Egypt in Africa. KAUST is the highest-placed university, and the only one in the top 300, under a wider definition that adds them too. The Arab world here means the 32 universities analysed in Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Kuwait, Lebanon, Iraq, Jordan, Egypt, Tunisia and Morocco (21 ranked).
Coverage: 1,192 universities in 81 countries and territories; research co-authored with companies in the open scholarly record, 2021 to 2025. The 1,038 with at least 100 verified industry works are ranked. Bands: Platinum 1 to 100, Gold 101 to 300, Silver 301 to 600, none beyond.
Pillars, each a percentile among ranked universities: co-creation 30% (the share of a university's research co-written with a verified company, against what its mix of fields predicts), durability 20% (the share of that work in sustained partnerships), scale 30% (the size of its industry network) and breadth 20% (how varied its company partners' main research fields are).
Single measures: industry share, the rate against the field-mix prediction and citation impact are printed on each university profile; comparisons with other ranked universities on one measure are computed from the published records and are not index positions. Citation impact (field-weighted, world average 1.00) is reported, not scored.
Sectors: a university is ranked in a sector with at least 20 verified industry works in it; each sector position uses that sector's own pool (Chemicals, Process and Resources: 237 universities), and sectors with fewer than 50 eligible universities are provisional.
Robustness: every published overall position is tested across 200 re-runs in which the works are resampled and each pillar weight varies by up to 25%.
The winner in each Sector Award category is the finalist with the highest partnership score (volume of joint work 40%, years active 30%, field-weighted citation impact 30%) in the frozen Edition 1 record. No panel, nomination or payment plays any part.
Industry and awards: market-producing state-owned enterprises count as industry, following the OECD Frascati Manual, and are marked throughout. Award eligibility is screened: partnerships with state-owned or state-controlled companies, with companies or universities on UK, EU, UN or US sanctions or restricted-party lists, or with companies that are primarily defence producers cannot win an award. The index itself counts every verified partnership.
What the index does not measure: it shows co-authored research between universities and companies, not confidential projects, consultancy or licensing, and it does not show that jobs, products, therapies or economic outcomes resulted from any partnership. Clinical trials and funded partnerships are reported on university profiles, not scored.
Reuse: the rankings, sector indices, award finalists, company verification table, topic-to-sector map and full link ledger are released under CC BY 4.0; attribute as “Industry Collaboration Index, Global Research Partnerships”. The RCI and the ICI have equal standing, and every university profile links to both.

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